


A Passion for Pancakes

by Scarlet_Curls



Series: Always There for You - A Collection of Renora Oneshots [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Childhood Friends, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fluff, Gen, The origin story of Nora's pancake obsession, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29284800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Curls/pseuds/Scarlet_Curls
Summary: For Nora, food was always an unpleasant necessity, and never a luxury. She hated trash, but she hated hunger pains more. Never had she tasted anything genuinely delicious until Ren cooked for her.
Relationships: Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie
Series: Always There for You - A Collection of Renora Oneshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150589
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	A Passion for Pancakes

Bits and bile splashed against the street. Nora lurched again, and more slid from her throat. She clasped her hands over her mouth, and knelt as rigidly as she could, steadying herself each time she lurched. Ren crouched beside her, rubbing her back. "Let it out." She shook her head. "You can't keep it in." She opened her mouth to protest, and lurched forward again. Passers-by wrinkled their noses and walked to the other side of the street. Nora threw up every piece of substance until she was left coughing. Ren helped wipe away the vomit on her chin with an old rag and offered her a water bottle. She gulped it down, gargling some in an attempt to erase the taste. "You can't just eat rotten fruit, Nora."

"It hurts." She clutched at her stomach, which growled loudly. "I'll eat anything. I'm used to the gross stuff."

"You should've let me share that bread."

She shook her head. "You needed it more. I can handle this. I've done it before." Her stomach growled again, and much louder. She groaned and curled up tighter. Tears threatened to escape tightly closed eyes. Any more of this torture and she'd be screaming again.

Ren helped her to the nearest shaded bench. "You stay here. I'll find something."

Nora nodded, laying on her side and clutching her knees to her chest. Another growl. She pressed her face into her knees, muffling her frustrated cry. Ren patted her on the head and walked towards the markets. The smell of street vendor food almost caused him to drool. He missed the days when his mother would buy him some as a treat for helping her shop for groceries.

Don't think about that, Ren. Focus.

The crowd thickened, but being a young, half-starved child made weaving between people easy. He peered into rubbish bins, searching for anything uncontaminated that had only just been thrown away. No luck today. Ren thought of Nora, curled up and in pain. There must be something he could do to make her feel better. Begging was an option, but he didn't want to deal with security. His best option was to check all the bins over and over until someone throws out something edible, so he did just that, but two rotations later, there was still nothing. On his third, when he hopped down from another disappointing find, something unfamiliar pressed into his shoe. Peaking from beneath it, was a Lien note. He picked it up. A fifty Lien note! That could buy enough food to last them weeks if he was careful, maybe a full month.

His feet rooted him in place. This wasn't his Lien. Someone else had dropped this. What if they needed it? What if they were also struggling?

He waited a good few minutes, rocking back and forth on his feet as the crowd cut around him. They'd be grateful enough to help Nora, right? Who wouldn't reward a good little boy who returned fifty Lien even when he needed it? Still, it might be better if no one came, and after waiting so long, no one did.

It was his now. He marvelled at it. The fifty Lien note in his hand, for him to spend! He twisted his head this way and that. What should he do with it? He spun around. A grocery store engulfed his vision. He had an idea.

Nora didn't bolt up like she usually would when Ren returned. She was that miserable. She did push herself up to better see the plastic bag and frying pan he carried. "How'd you get this all?" she asked.

"I found fifty Lien on the ground. No one came back for it."

Ren lead Nora to the forests on the edge of town. He gathered the materials for a fire and asked her to start it and heat the pan as he prepared his ingredients.

He'd never made pancakes on his own, and it had been months since he last made them with his mother, and it was a taste he'd been missing. Ren lay out the ingredients. Eggs, flour, butter, milk, and sugar. He couldn't afford maple syrup, but he silently promised to get Nora some in future. Now, what were the measurements again?

He had to do everything by sight, having no means of measure. Oh no. He didn't have anything to mix it with. Maybe that stick would do? He rinsed it with a bit of water and hoped nothing on it would make Nora throw up a second time. The stick cut through the batter rather than stirring it. He wound it in circles as fast as he could, but it tired him after ten minutes of it. The result was lumpy and maybe thicker than necessary, but it would have to do. By then, the pan had heated up. Ren approached with his big bowl of batter, and Nora gasped. He carefully poured some into the pan and tilted it to spread it around. It was too thick to form a perfect circle, but it would do. A few minutes later, Ren had another problem. No spatula. Would he have to flip it? He'd never done that before!

Ren lifted the pan with both hands. Nora, eying the pancake like an eagle to a mouse, wiped away some drool. He could do it. His mother made it look so easy. Three, two, one, flip!

The pancake landed on the ground, batter side down. Nora lunged for it, but Ren snatched it away and threw it into the bushes. "I want you to have a good one," he said.

Nora sat back down with a pout. Ren poured another pancake. A few minutes later, it was ready to flip again. Ren gripped the pan and moved it forward and back. The pancake slid with it. The movements got bigger and bigger until he flicked the pan upwards. The pancake flipped.

Half dangled over the side of the pan, but he'd done it. He used the stick to reposition it, and let it cook as he searched for make-shift plates. There was a tree with particularly large leaves. He brought a few back, and tipped the pancake onto one of them. It was misshapen, lumpy, and burnt on one side. Nothing like home. Despite this, Nora stared at it like an all-you-can-eat buffet when he handed it to her. Her eyes sparkled at the first bite. "Mmm…" She swallowed. "Ren, this is so good!" and took another bite.

Ren tried a piece, and almost coughed when a lump of raw flour exploded in his mouth. It was dry too, but Nora ate it like gourmet food. After the last bite, she said, "More please!"

He fulfilled her wish, this time flipping and catching the pancake in the pan. She ate this one faster than the first, and enjoyed it just the same. The third one Ren ate, and Nora got the forth and fifth. She wanted more, but Ren suggested they save the rest for later, and she begrudgingly agreed, on the condition that she got to try making one.

"Oops." Some of the batter poured over her fingers. She put down the bowl and was about to lick it off when she thought of something.

"Boop."

She tapped his nose with a batter-coated finger. He blinked, then smiled. "Maybe let me make the pancakes."

Nora happily licked her fingers. "I won't ever make them as good as yours."

He flipped Nora's attempt at a pancake successfully. "But they're terrible."

"Nope! They're the best thing I've ever tasted."

Ren perked up. "Really?"

"Really. I don't feel sick or hungry anymore. Magic pancakes!"

He chuckled and stored Nora's pancake. "I'll try to make more some time."

"Yippee!" Nora tackled him with a hug. "I can't wait already."

**Author's Note:**

> And thus Nora's insatiable appetite for pancakes was born. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
